The National Prisoner Census, conducted annually on the night of 30 June, counts all persons who are in the legal custody of adult corrective services, including periodic detainees in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. At any given point in time, most prisoners are serving long sentences for relatively serious offences, but the flow of offenders in and out of prisons consists primarily of persons serving short sentences for less serious offences.

The total prison population on 30 June 2003 was 23,555. New South Wales had the highest proportion of prisoners (38%), followed by Queensland (22%).

11.29 PRISONERS, By states and territories - 30 June 2003

NSW(a)

Vic.

Qld

SA

WA

Tas.

NT

ACT in ACT

ACT in NSW(a)

ACT total

Aust.(b)

NUMBER

All prisoners

8,881

3,763

5,243

1,455

2,899

453

729

132

117

249

23,555

Males

8,289

3,482

4,895

1,352

2,681

429

707

126

111

237

21,961

Females

592

281

348

103

218

24

22

6

6

12

1,594

Indigenous

1,563

174

1,210

244

1,107

53

571

4

12

16

4,818

Non-Indigenous

7,099

3,589

4,033

1,049

1,882

400

158

128

105

233

18,356

Unknown

219

-

-

162

-

-

-

-

-

-

381

Sentenced

7,044

3,068

4,153

983

2,447

355

612

76

117

193

18,738

Unsentenced

1,837

695

1,090

472

452

98

117

56

-

56

4,817

PROPORTION (%)

All prisoners

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

100.0

Males

93.3

92.5

93.4

92.9

92.5

94.7

97.0

95.5

94.9

95.2

93.2

Females

6.7

7.5

6.6

7.1

7.5

5.3

3.0

4.5

5.1

4.8

6.8

Indigenous

17.6

4.6

23.1

16.8

35.1

11.7

78.3

3.0

10.3

6.4

20.5

Non-Indigenous

79.6

95.4

76.9

72.1

64.9

88.3

21.7

97.0

89.7

93.6

77.9

Unknown

2.5

-

-

11.1

-

-

-

-

-

-

1.6

Sentenced

79.3

81.5

79.2

67.6

84.4

78.4

84.0

57.6

100.0

77.5

79.5

Unsentenced

20.7

18.5

20.8

32.4

15.6

21.6

16.0

42.4

-

22.5

20.5

(a) The majority of full-time prisoners sentenced in the ACT are held in NSW prisons.(b) The ACT in NSW figures are a subset of the NSW figures, and are not separately counted in the Australian totals.

Source: Prisoners in Australia, 2003 (4517.0).

There were 21,961 male prisoners at 30 June 2003, comprising 93% of the total prisoner population (table 11.29). The median age of prisoners was 32 years for males and 31 years for females. The majority of prisoners were young adult males, with 55% (12,841) of all prisoners being males aged 20-34 years (graph 11.30).

There were 4,818 Indigenous prisoners (21% of the prisoner population) on 30 June 2003. Over the past decade, Indigenous prisoners have accounted for an increasing proportion of the total prisoner population (graph 11.31).

Unsentenced prisoners include unconvicted prisoners awaiting a court hearing or trial and convicted prisoners awaiting sentencing. At 30 June 2003, one in five (20%) of the total prisoner population were unsentenced prisoners. Over the past 10 years, unsentenced prisoners have accounted for an increasing number and proportion of the total prisoner population. The proportion of prisoners who were unsentenced increased from 12% in 1993 to 21% in 2003 (graph 11.32).

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